Welt for boots and shoes



E. S. PRATT. Welt for Boots and Shoes.

No. 226,192 Patented April 6,1880.

Wvzesses: frwmzo' N.FETER& PHDTO-LITHOGRAPHJL WASHINGTON. D C,

Barren ATES i ATJET rrrcnt WELT FOR BOOTS AND SHOES.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 226,192, dated April 6, 1880.

Application filed January 12, 1880.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELBRIDGE S. PRATT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ohicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and Improved Stitch-Gagin g \Nelt forBoots and Shoes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The accompanying drawing represents a perspective view of a roll of my improved stitch-gaging welting as prepared for sale to the trade.

The object of my invention is to provide boot and shoe makers with a welt which can be placed around the seam-edge of a boot or shoe and upon the out-turned edge of the upper-leather, which rests flat upon said seamedge, and which, when thus placed upon the same, will serve as an accurate gage for the position and length of the stitches formed by the wax-thread in the operation of sewing the outer sole, the upper, and the welt together. The welt thus employed serves for giving the most perfect stitched appearance to the shoe or boot when finished, and greatly facilitates the operation of making hand-made stitched boots and shoes, it being practicable with the use of this stitch-gage welt to employ hands who are not skilled in the fine work of making stitched boots and shoes, and owing to this the cost of manufacturing such work will be greatly reduced.

The nature of my invention consists in a new article of man ufacture consisting of leather welting punched through with holes which are at uniform distances apart, such holes being the gage for the length of the stitches to be formed by the waxed thread used in sewing together the outer sole, the upper-leather, and the welt in the manufacture of boots and shoes.

The welting material A, as represented in the drawing, is made of the same class of leather as is commonly used in making ordinary sewed work, and it is of a width sufficient to cover the lower edge of the upper-leather of a boot or shoe, which upper-leather is turned out upon the upper surface of the seam portion of the outer sole of the boot or shoe when the mode of making boots and shoes I have invented and claimed under another patent is adopted. The welting has holes a. punched through it at uniform distances apart, as shown in the drawing. The holes a serve as the gage for the insertion of the shoe-makers awl through the welt, upper-leather, and outer sole of the shoe, and they insure perfect uni formity in the length of the stitches formed by the Waxed thread used in sewing the parts together. They also prevent any deviation from a straight or true coursein the operation of sewing.

To prepare the welting, machinery is employed. For instance, take an ordinary sewing-machine and place in it a suitable squarecut needle, and then run the prepared welting through the machine. The result is the piercing of the leather with the utmost regularity as to straightness of line and distance apart of the stitch-gagin g holes a. The holes are made at right angles to the length, or across the welt, and they answer perfectly for the reception of the end of the awl at the beginning of its insertion into the work which is beneath the welt.

The welting may be put up for the trade in roll or other form.

What I claim as my invention is-- As an improved article of manufacture, a continuous strip of weltin g for boots and shoes, provided with holes or perforations, substantially as described.

ELBRIDGE S. PRATT.

lVitnesses:

ALEXANDER PORTER, DAVID A. CLARK. 

